A man who spent many of his teenage years involved in drug-related crime is changing the lives of inner-city Leicester children through an unusual social enterprise.

The Urban Equestrian Academy was established in 2015 by Leicester-born Tariq Freedom Zampaladus.

Every week trainer Tariq, also known as Freedom, takes a group of children to an equestrian centre to learn about the animals. The programme is designed to give the children a range of transferable skills and gain confidence outside of their usual environment.

In the last two years, 40-year-old Tariq and the Urban Equestrian Academy has gained national attention for his work.

He told LeicestershireLive his story.

Moving to Antigua

Tariq realised had an affinity for animals from a young age. He would take in injured animals with a group of friends and nurse them back to health.

As a popular 14-year-old schoolboy, Tariq loved his life so he was apprehensive when his father announced that they would be moving to Antigua to live with his uncle.

"I had my whole world here, I was comfortable and I didn't want to start over again by moving to a totally new country knowing everyone spoke differently and generally life would be different," he said.

Within two weeks he was spending every day with the horses, while his dad worked at the family lumberyard.

The founder of the academy bonding with one of the horses at Markfield Equestrian Centre

It was not long before his uncle's other business was brought to light.

His uncle was the biggest marijuana dealer on the island and although it was never part of his dad's plan, they had a family obligation to help.

This introduced Tariq to a life of crime that would go on to consume most of his teenage years.

He claimed to have become accustomed to the social status that came with being the nephew of the island's most notorious drug dealer of the time.

"There's a sort of way you had to carry yourself when you're involved with that sort of stuff but I was still a good kid and I got top grades actually," he said.

Spending his spare time at the horse yard was an escape for Tariq. He said that without his uncle's business, he 'wouldn't have had a chance to be around the horses'.

It was when his uncle bought a young, wild horse that he had his first glimpse at being a successful trainer. The horse had never been ridden but after several attempts to train the wild animal, his uncle's staff gave up.

Unhappy with seeing the animal abandoned, Tariq pleaded with his uncle to keep it, hoping to train it and claim it as his own.

He told LeicestershireLive: "My uncle reluctantly gave it to me but I wasn't allowed to keep it with the other horses so I took it to another stable and rehabilitated it.

"We ended up bonding really well and that's when I realised I was so good with horses."

Following a hurricane in Antigua, the trade of marijuana became restricted and the racehorses became his uncle's main focus.

Thankfully for Tariq, this would begin to steer him away from a crime-ridden life which he later went on to write about in his book, From The Hood 2 Horses.

He eventually took over as the unofficial trainer and ended up getting his horse-training license at 17 years old. Along with his uncle, he went on to win races around the Caribbean.

Life back in Leicester

As an already successful trainer, at the age of 19 Tariq decided to move back to England to gain equestrian qualifications that he could take back to Antigua. He got a place to study at Brooksby Melton College in Melton.

"It was only when I came back to England that I realised the equestrian world is more than just racing - that's all I had known," he said. "But there's show-jumping, dressage and more.

"It's a massive world for me."

Learning to care for the horses is an important part of the programmes at Urban Equestrian

The teenager was learning a lot but he was also taking his first steps in an industry that, he was told, had only 1% of people involved from ethnic minorities.

After being so comfortable in the equestrian world in Antigua, Tariq said it was difficult to understand why he felt so out of place back in England.

"Out of about 900 kids at the college I was the only black person," Tariq said.

During college, Tariq's aspirations changed and he stayed in England to further his experience.

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He valued the work experience opportunities he had but although he was doing well, the lack of diversity in the industry was uncomfortably obvious to him.

"Even at work experience I was the only black person and the first time I ever had to deal with racism was when I joined the equine industry. It was bloody lonely," Tariq said.

Back in Leicester, when times got tough, Tariq slipped back into 'old habits' that he picked up in Antigua. But he still wanted to work with horses.

Having seen the benefits to his own life that working with horses had, he was inspired to share it with others.

One of the young riders being taught by Tariq Zampaladus

As part of a playscheme, he took a few children to horse stables for a day. It was incredibly popular and became a two-day course. But the professional horse trainer had more to offer than just a bit of fun for the children.

He put his wealth of equine knowledge and experience to use and created something that would be more educational.

"I spoke to a friend of mine who told me to get in touch with Connexions and set up a longer course so I wrote out a whole plan and they loved it, so it became a 10-day course that involved lots of elements, not just riding but grooming and horse care too," he said.

"That's where the idea for the Urban Equestrian Academy started."

Launching The Urban Equestrian Academy

The Urban Equestrian Academy was launched in 2015, starting with a programme for 6-13 year olds called Azeezah's Junior Pony Club, named after Tariq's daughter. It started off with a small group of children and today has almost 90 members, with a waiting list.

When he set up the academy, the founder aimed for it to improve the children's personal development and prevent them from becoming involved in antisocial behaviour.

The children get the chance to ride outside after some practice in the centre

Tariq knew that trying to work with the older groups wouldn't be straightforward. He said: "With young teenagers it can be so difficult because they have this street cred thing to protect and they become territorial.

"So with the Young Pony's Club, we introduce the kids to it at a young age and they learn to socialise with different people from the age of six.

"We kind of work on a prevention not cure thing because it's harder when they're 14 and 15."

He noticed that the children were more confident after just one session with the horses and started to add programmes to the academy.

His children Azeezah, Ché and O'shae are among the children taking part in the scheme.

'Tariq helped my son more than I could imagine.'

Tariq recalled the journey of one the academy's first members, Eesa Khan.

Eesa's mum, Rachel Whitehead, started to take her son, who was nine years old at the time, to the sessions after coming across Tariq on Facebook.

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Rachel added: "The club has such a variety of kids, they didn't judge Eesa they just took him as he was and Zampaladus has been amazing with him.

"He started coming home and telling me everything about the horses, he was never like that before.

"Everyone who knows my little boy has noticed that he's changed. He was a few years behind at school and now he's catching up - he's so much calmer and more content."

She is one of the many parents who are incredibly thankful for the work that Tariq does.

Eesa Khan has been progressing incredibly well with the academy

"I don't think people understand how much Tariq is helping these kids and the effect he has had on my son," she said. "I can't stress enough how he plays such an important role to our children, he deserves the utmost credit for his fantastic work."

The founder of the Urban Equestrian Academy has been commended for his contribution to inner-city communities in Leicester. He is also now a member of the British Equestrian Federation's 'Equality Engagement Group'.

Now that Tariq has seen how successful the equestrian academy has been, he aims to open it up to more children in other disadvantaged areas of the UK.